12/26/2005

why paying for honesty does not work

an honest man does not need to be paid to be honest. some may think that an honest man is a stupid man. but he believes in what is honestly his and will not take anything that does not belong to him. paying more does not make any difference to him. and there is no need to reward his honesty as it is already there. pay him his fair wage. by paying more and thinking that a dishonest man will become honest is a fallacy. such logic presumes that everyone is dishonest, or may be greedy. pay him enough and he will refrain from becoming his evil self. in the recent case it is proven that a dishonest man will always be honest. or is it that they have not paid him enough? then what is enough? very likely enough will never be enough. the other issue is how much to pay for job worth? many in mega organisations think that they must be paid proportional to the value of their decision and responibility that come with a big job. up to a point. other wise the president of usa must be paid the most. then there is paying for the value of the person instead of the job. how much is this man worth? what is his market value? can he get a similar paying job elsewhere? there are many factors that are used in the computation of a job. special skills, connections, risk, risk of life or job. not risk of making multi million dollar decision. that is already paid in the value of the job. and if one makes a wrong million dollar decision, one gets fired. there are qualification and experience etc. but no one pays for honesty. that is expected. so are integrity, being responsible, dedication, doing a good job. all these are expected from the employee. and if he is dishonest then he will go to jail. imagine what it would be like if an organisation got to pay for all these factors.

2 comments:

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Honesty, like morality and ethics and religion are personal values.

When any of these become organised and institutionalised - by force or massive action, we get big problems... and thus entertainment is created.

Yes, the market justly rewards honesty. If you don't believe that, just behave dishonestly and observe the results.

No, you cannot get empirical data by judging the behaviour of others as honest or dishonest - you must attempt this experiment yourself.

Honesty IS the BEST policy - but it should never be "forced".

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

very true. honesty is individual. and for people to presume that honesty can be conditioned is a bit difficult. fear, threat, punishment and reward for honesty draw forth a different kind of honesty. conditional honesty.

when the condition is absent, back to normal, which can be dishonesty. or when condition is not strong enough, it will not be effective.